ED attaches director Shankar’s assets worth over ₹10 crore under PMLA in Enthiran plagiarism case

The Enforcement Directorate said on Thursday that Shankar, the director of the 2010 movie Enthiran, facing charges of plagiarism and copyright violations, has assets worth more than ₹10 crore attached under the anti-money laundering law. (Also Read: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan’s twins vibe to Jr NTR, Janhvi Kapoor’s Chuttamalle; fans call it ‘cute’. Watch)

ED on Shankar’s assets

This is possibly the first attachment of assets in the country under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on grounds of plagiarism or copyright violation while making a movie, as per officials.

The ED said in a statement that a provisional order was issued on February 17 under the PMLA, attaching three immovable properties of the director, S Shankar. The total value of these assets is ₹10.11 crore.

About the case

The money laundering case stems from a complaint filed by Aarur Tamilnadan, author of a story titled Jiguba, against Shankar before a court at Egmore in Chennai on May 19, 2011.

The complaint alleges that Shankar’s Tamil movie Enthiran (Robot)’s storyline was copied from Jiguba, thereby rendering him liable for violations under the Copyright Act, 1957, and some sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the ED said.

Enthiran was released in 2010 and featured Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai as the main lead. It grossed ₹290 crore world-wide, making it an all-time blockbuster at the time, the ED said.

The federal probe agency said its investigation found that Shankar received a “substantial” remuneration of ₹11.5 crore for his “multi-faceted” contributions to Enthiran, including story development, screenplay, dialogues, and direction.

Further, an independent report by the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) identified “striking” similarities between the story Jiguba and the movie Enthiran. This report, which examined the narrative structure, character development, and thematic elements, lends significant support to the plagiarism allegations against Shankar, the agency said.

“Based on the substantial evidence and records in hand, it has been determined that S Shankar has violated Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957, a violation now classified as a scheduled offence under the PMLA,” the ED said.